Opinion: Bye Bye Birdies -- and Shame on Us

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Great. We can’t even save the California condor.

How the heck are we supposed to be able to save ourselves?

Millions of dollars have been put into a laudable effort to save the superb prehistoric bird from extinction -- but the American Ornithologists’ Union report says it may be doomed, according to my colleague Margot Roosevelt’s story, mostly because we can’t be bothered to give up lead ammunition.

We already wiped out a lot of the big creatures whose carrion once fed the condors. Now, we blast away with lead ammo at animals, and often leave their carcasses behind. That’s what the condors have been eating -- and the lead is helping to kill them.

Oh sure, there’s a new law banning lead bullets for shooting big game -- but those are the trophies that hunters often haul away anyway. Birds and rabbits can still be killed with lead bullets, and more likely to be left behind. The shots kill not only the birds and rabbits but then the lead kills condors that feed on the critters.

Anyway, a lot of hunters can’t even find lead-free ammo to buy if they wanted to switch. And here’s what’s disgustingly typical of politics: California passed a law giving subsidies to hunters who buy non-lead bullets -- but the politicians didn’t put a single cent to funding it. Nice. I’m sure you gave yourself a big pat on the back, Sacramento, when what you really deserve is a big swift something else in the front.

So congratulations, California. We put the magnificent California grizzly bear on our flag, but we managed to kill them all off -- dragged into forced battles with wild bulls just for our amusement, hunted for fun and fur, and, like the condor, poisoned. The last confirmed California grizzly was shot in Fresno County in 1922 and the bear was declared extinct in 1924. The condor evidently won’t be far behind.

For my money, the most heart-stopping sights in California aren’t the man-made ones. They’re the ones that were here long before we arrived and messed the place up. They’re sights like Half Dome and the Antelope Valley abloom with poppies and lupine -- and a condor in flight.

Going once ... going twice ...

The July 10, 2008, photo of the California condor is courtesy of AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez.